Hydraulic dredge



May 28, 1935. A. NEVELING, SR 2,002,749

HYDRAULIC DREDGE Filed April 16, 19 4 s Sheets-Sheet 1 A. NEVELING, SR

May 28, 1935.

' HYDRAULIC DREDGE Filed April 16, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 fil/amor Hwy: jvfl/fLlN fN.

HYDRAUL I G DREDGE Filed April 16, 1934 3 s t -sheet 3' l' IHIWWH Patented May 28, 1935 I UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE HYDRAULIC DREDGE Aloys Neveling, Sr., Chicago, Ill.

,Application April 16, 1934, Serial N- 720,722

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in dredges of f the hydraulic type and its purpose is to provide an improved construction which may be employed efficiently for removing material from the bottoms of rivers, harbors and the like, leaving a fiat surface or other desired surface after the dredging operation has been completed. Hydraulic dredges have heretofore been common- 1y employed for so-called cleaning up operations in which a comparatively thin layer of material is removed from thebottom of the river or harbor and the dredges which have been in general use have been unsatisfactory because the rotary cuttersemployed have been not Well-adapted to provide a flat surface on the bottom of the area over which the dredging operations take place and also because of the tendency of the dredge conduit to become clogged or to pump only a volume of water without'moving the solid' material which is loosened by the rotary cutters. It hasoften been found, particularly when the rotary cutter of the dredge is operating upon very hard'material, that the cutters are notcapable of cutting off sections of rock or the like coextensive with their length and, to overcome this difficulty, the rotary cutter has ordinarily been positioned to cause the blades to operate over portions of their length only when engaging this hard material and this has resulted in an unsatisfactory operation by reason-of the fact that the open spaces between the blades, not occupied by solid material, provide a channel for the free inflow of water under the influence of the suction of the dredge conduit, with the'result that the solid material which is loosened by the action of the cutting blades is not carried upwardly through the dredge conduit but, instead, a large volume of water is pumped through-the conduit. This results in a very inefficient operation since the percentage of solid material removed by the dredge may be relatively small.

The principal object of the present invention is to overcome the foregoing difiiculties, and many others, by providing an improved hydraulic dredge comprising a rotary cutter having a plurality of suction channels so arranged that if one of these channels becomes temporarily clogged material and bring about a free flow of "material through all of the suction conduits.

Afurther object of "the invention is to provide a hydraulic dredge comprising a rotary cutter having a plurality of series of rotary cutting blades each operating independently of the other and capable of being independently removed and replaced. A further important object of the invention is to provide a hydraulic dredge comprising a rotary cutter having a plurality of series of cutting blades in combination with a plurality of suction conduits each associated with one series of blades, whereby the materials removed by the separate series of blades are hidependently carried away through the separate suetion conduits. A further object of the invention is to provide a hydraulic dredge comprising a rotary cutter comprising a series of blades each made up of a plurality of connected linear sections having detachably secured thereto a plurality of complementary flat cutting blades adapted to produce the composite effect of a curved cutting blade in the operation of the rotary cutter. Still another object of the invention is to provide a rotary cutter for dredges comprising a plurality of series of rotary cutting blades so arranged that the cutter is adapted to produce a substantially fiat surface upon the bottom of the area over which the cutter operates. Another object of the invention is to provide an improved rotary cutter for dredges comprising complementary parts which are detachably connected so that they may be independently removed and replaced, thus permitting the repair of the cutter without the necessity of replacing all of its parts. Other objects of the invention relate to various features of construction and arrangement which will appear more fully hereinafter.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification taken with the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment is illustrated.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of the forward portion of a hydraulic dredge equipped with the improved features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows an enlarged axial section through the rotary cutter and associated parts of the sucward end thereof a pair of beams l2 and a cantilever frame orboom l3. Thebeams l2 project in cantilever fashion from the end of the hull and are adapted to support the inner or upper end of a digging arm or ladder 14 which carries at the outer or lower end thereof the rotary cutter indicated generally at IS. The outer end of the ladder I4 is connected by a member It with pulleys I! and a cable [8 is passed around these pulleys and around another set of pulleys i 9 on the outer end of the boom i 3 with a portion H3 of the cable extending inwardly through the boom to the hull of the dredge where it may be wound or unwound by a suitable winch for the purpose of raising or lowering the ladder or digging arm. Another cable extends over pulleys 21 mounted on the boom and is attached to a member 22 carried by the outer end of the ladder for controlling the.

movements of the ladder during the digging operations. a structural frame 23, adapted to operate as a cantilever beam, upon which are mounted a rotary operating shaft 24 and a tubular conduit 25 through which the. excavated material is conveyed. The upper endof the conduit 25 is connected through a flexible joint 26 with suitable suction apparatus located upon the hull H and the shaft 24- is driven through suitable transmission mechanism 21 by a motor or engine 28; The excavated materials and the water by which they are conveyed are drawn by suction through the conduit 25 and through the universal joint 26 to suitable hoppers on the dredge where the solid material is collected and the water is allowed to drain off.

The lower end of the conduit 25 is provided with a bearing 23 in which the shaft 24 is journaled and the lower ends of the conduit 25' and of the frame 23 of the ladder have secured thereto a casting or head- 30 which provides a support for the rotary cutter i 5 and also furnishes a plurality. of suction channels communicating with the conduit 25. This head comprises a tubular conduit section 30 communicating with and secured to the end of the conduit 25 and an upstanding rib or plate 39 to which the member 22, previously described, is secured. The conduit section 36 and the rib 30 are formed integrally with a radially extending plate 33 around which the inner end of the rotary cutter l5 revolves. The plate 33 and the upper portion of the cond-uit section 33 are formed integrally with a hub portion 30 provided with bushings 3| in which the: lower end of the shaft 24 is journaled. Formed integrally with the plate 33 and surrounding the hub portion 30, is a hollow shell or casing 33 having an end wall 33 extending parallel tothe plate 36 The lower portion of the end wall 39 is provided with an elongated opening 33 of arcuate form, which communicates with a suction passage '32 extending through the shell 3ll and communicating. with the conduit section 30. The lower wall of the shell 33*, which forms the bottom wall of the passage 32, is extended as shown at 3t into the conduit section 30 thus foriningbeneath the part 33 another suction passage 33 having a mouth 3w which opens beneath the shell 30 while the upper end of this passage discharges into the conduit section 33 beneath the discharge opening of the passage 32. The head or casting 30 is welded or otherwise secured to the lower end of the ladder or digging arm and thus provides a firm support. for the rotary cutter IS.

The cutter l5 comprises two sections l5 and I 5 each having a series of cutter blades so arranged that the materials removed by the sec- The ladder or digging arm comprises tion I'J are carried into the suction conduit through the passage 32 while the materials removed by the section lfi are carried into the suction conduit through the passage 33. The the outer section l5 of the rotary cutter comprises a, hub 35 having a tapered bore which fits the tapered lower end 2 of the shaft 24. The projecting threaded extremity of this shaft is engaged by a washer 36 and a nut 37 for holding the cutter. in place on the shaft and in position with respect to the head 30 about which portions of the cutter revolve. The hub 35 has formed integrally therewith a series of radiating vanes 38 each of which comprises a supporting arm 38 united with an outer spirally formed part 38*. The ends of the parts 38 are formed integrally with an annular ring 39 and these vanes have a series of cutter blades 43 secured thereto by rivets 41. The blades 40 have reversely bent parts 4E] which extend along the arms 38 of the vanes, thus forming relatively sharp points 40 at the outer ends of the cutter blades. The annular ring 39 which is united with the inner ends of the vanes 38 is adapted to revolve around the outer end of the shell 33 thus providing support for the outer section I5 of the cutter apart from that provided by the hub 35.

The inner section 95 of the cutter comprises an annular ring 4! which is detachably secured to the ring 39 of the outer section by means of bolts 42 and nuts 43. The-ring 4! is formed integrally with a series of vanes 44 which are of spiral formation and which are united integrally at their upper or inner ends with another annular ring 45 which is adapted to revolve about the outer edge of the plate 30. The vanes 44-are spaced apart equally and are cast as one integral structure with the rings 41 and 45. These'vanes 44 have secured thereto by means of rivets 46, a series of cutting blades 4! which conform to the spiral formation of the vanes and which are sharpened at their outer edges as are the blades 40-. Both series of blades project beyond the vanes to which they are attached and provide cutting edges for removing the rock or other material which is being excavated by the operation of the dredge. It will be apparent that as the cutter I5 is rotated by the shaft 24, the blades 40 and 4! will engage the material on the bottom of the river or harbor which is indicated at 4B in Fig. 2 and out off this material with the result that it is drawn by suction, along with some water, into the conduit 25 by which it is carried upwardly to the hoppers on the hull of thedredge. Owing to the inclination of the ladder l4 and the relative arrangement of the two series of cutting blades 40 and 41, the operation of the cutter is adapted to form a substantially flat surface on the bottom 48. v

The material which is removed by the cutter blades 40 on the outer section l5 of the cutter is drawn upwardly through the passage 32 which is formed through the shell 33 while the material which is cut off by the blades 41 on the inner section 95* of the cutter is drawn upwardly into the suction conduit through the passage 33. There is thus provided a separate discharge channel for the material removed by each series of cutter blades and if the inlet opening to either passage 32 or 33 becomes clogged by solid material excavated by the associated cutter blades, the flow of material through the other passage will increase the suction effect upon that passage which is clogged, with the result that the material clogging the passage is quickly removed and the cutter thus automatically corrects its own difliculties during the operation of dredging. A free flow of material through one passage, even though it be made up almost entirely of water, is adapted to restore the flow of material through the other passage so that the normal operation of the cutter is quickly restored. By extending the wall of the shell 3|! into the conduit section 30*, as shown at Sti there are provided two suction passages opening into a common channel, with the result that a flow through either one of them, while the other is closed, produces a marked suction efiect in the closed passage. The improved construction described above also has the advantage that the cutter blades may be readily replaced independently of each other and also that either cutter section I 5 and l5 may be replaced independently of the other. Instead of providing a gradual spiral curve upon each of the vanes 38 and 44, these vanes may be made up of a series of connected linear sections having flat surfaces which permit the application thereto of sectional cutting blades 40 or 41, each section of which is made up of a forged steel cutting blade lying in one plane. By means of this construction, each vane and its attached blade may be made to assume approximately the form of a spiral cutting blade while at the same time obtaining the advantage of the use of forged steel cutting blades.

Although one embodimentof the invention has been shown and described by way of illustration, it will be understood that it may be constructed in various other embodiments without departing from the. scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

The combination in a dredge, of a suction con duit, a head mounted at the end of said conduit and comprising a radial disk having a tubular shell extending endwise therefrom, said disk having a passage leading therethrough into said conduit, said shell having another passage leading therethrough into said conduit, said shell being closed at its outer end except for said last named passage, and a rotary cutter mounted to revolve about said head, two annular series of cutting blades, one series of cutting blades being located around said shell and arranged to discharge into said first named passage, the other series of cutting blades being located beyond the end of said shell and being adapted to discharge into said last named passage.

ALOYS NEVELING, SEN. 

